Garage door latch



Jan. 24, 1967 L J. FLEsKr-:s 3,300,238

GARAGE DOOR LATCH Filed Feb. 17, 1965 s sheets-sheet 1 LYLEJ. FLES/(ESBY /A/vE/vron Buc/(Hom, B10/:15, KLARou/'sr 8 SPAR/(MAN y Arron/versGARAGE DOOR LATCH Filed Feb. 17, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 BUCKHOEW, BLORE,KLAROU/ST SPAR/(MAN Arron/VHS Filed Feb. 17, 1965 FIG.\\

L. J. FLESKES GARAGE DOOR LATCH 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR LYLE' J.FLESKES BYv BUCKHORN, BLORE,

KLARQUIST 8 SPARKMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent C) 3,300,238 GARAGEDOOR LATCH Lyle J. Fleskes, Portland, Greg., assignor to Pacific Spring& Hardware Manufacturing Corporation, Portland, Greg., a corporation ofOregon Filed Feb. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 433,443 8 Claims. (Cl. 292-173)This invention relates to a garage door latch, and more particularly toa ganage door latch reversible for both righthand and lefthandinstallations without disassembly of the latch or changing partsthereof.

In a .garage door latch for a sectional, overhead, garage door, alatching bar thereof emust have suicient throw to both surely engage aXed latching part and to be retracted sufficiently to clear tracksguiding the ganage door. In the past, the latches have had to havelarge, bulky operating mechanisms in order to provide a suflciently longthrow of the latching bar. As a result, it has been difcult to m-ountthe latches in the limited space available on the edge portions of thegarage door sections. It would be desirable to provide a garage doorlatch which is very compact while having a long throw from the latchingbar thereof and which is also very rugged. It would also be desirable toprovide such a latch which is reversible for both righthand and lefthandinstallations without disassembly of the latch or changing partsthereof.

An object of the invention is to provide a new and improved garage doorlatch.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garage door latchreversible for 1both righthand and lefthand installations withoutdisassembly of the latch or changing parts thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a com pact garage doorlatch with a latching bar having a long throw.

The invention provides a garage door latch having a latching bar towhich a long throw is imparted by a compact actuating mechanism. Theactuating mechanism preferably includes a lslide arm connected by apin-andslot connection to the latching bar and driven by a latch leverland adapted to extend beyond the latch lever at each end of the travelof the latch lever to increase the throw thereof. Preferably a lockar-rn is mounted on a shaft serving to guide the slide arm and ismovable between a locking position holding the latch lever in latchingposition and a releasing position permitting a spring to move the latchlever, the slide arm and the latching bar to releasing positions. Anarrow housing encloses the actuating mechanism and has guideways forthe latching bar along with oppositely disposed clearance openingsthrough which the end of lthe slide arm projects alternately at oppositeends of its travel, thus providing long throw While permitting thehousing to be compact. The latch preferably is reversible so that it maybe used for either righthand installation or lefthand installationwithout disassembly of the latch or changing parts thereof.

A complete understanding `of the invention may be obtained from thefollowing detailed description of a ganage door latch forming a specificembodiment thereof when read in conjunction with the appended drawings,in which:

FIG. l is a fragmentary, elevation view of the inner side lof a garagedoor and |a garage door latch forming one embodiment of the inventionmounted on the door;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the latch of FIG. l; Y

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical lsection taken substantially along line3-3 of FIG. 2;

ICC

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevation of a housing section of the latch ofFIG. l;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken substantially along line 5-5 of FIG.4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged elevation of a housing section of the latch ofFIG. l;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially along line7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially along line8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are enlarged front and side elevations, respectively, ofa slide arm of the latch of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 11 and l2 are enlarged front and side elevations, respectively, ofa l-ock arm of the latch of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are enlarged front and side elevations, respectively, ofa latch lever and a spring of the latch of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 15 is an enlarged front elevation of a latching bar of the latch ofFIG. l.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, a garage door latch 20 (FIG. 1)is mounted on a section 22 of a typical sectional, overhead garage door24 having rollers (not shown) movable along channel-like guides 26 toopen and close the door. The latch includes a latching bar 28, which,when the latch is released by manually pressing a lock arm 29 to theleft, as viewed in FIG. 2, or by rotation of the lock arm by a keyoperated lock 31, is spring urged out of a latching slot 3i) in theadjacent guide 26. To move the bar 28 to a latching position, the user,if at the inside of the door, grasps knob 32 and pushes the bar to theright, and if at the outside of the door, turns a handle 34.

The latch is reversible from the righthand installation shown forlefthand installation merely by mounting the knob 32 on the other faceof the bar 28 from that shown. The latch includes a split housing orcasing including diecast halves or sections 36 and 38 (FIGS. 2, 4, 5, 6and 7). The sections 36 and 38 are secured together by two screws 39threaded into tapped bores 42 (FIG. 4) in :boss portions 41 of thesection 36 and extending through aligned bores 40 (FIG. 6) in bossportions 43 of the section 3S. Screws 44 (FIG. 2) extend through bores46 and 48 in the boss portions of the sections 36 and 38, respectively,into the garage door to secure the latch to the garage door in thedesired position. The section 36 .has raised, tapered aligning pinportions 50 surrounding bores 46 therethrough. The pin portions 50 fitinto complementary, countersunk portions 52 in the section 38.

The latching bar :28 is slidable in aligned notches 60 in the section 36and is .guided by opposed guide portions 62 and 64 formed on bosses 63and 65. A pin 66 (FIGS. 2 and 3) on forked slide arm 68 forminga part ofan actuating mechanism extends into and is slidable along cross slot '70in the bar 23. Fork 72 of the slide arm brackets is pivoted on and isslidable transversely relative to shaft 74 of the lock arm 29. A pin 76(FIGS. 2, 13 and 14) of latch lever 78 projects into bore 80 in theslide arm 68 to drivingly interlock therewith. The latch lever 78 has ashaft 82 integral therewith and having reduced portions 84 and S6 ttingrotatably into lower aligned bores 88 (FIG. 4) rand 90 (FIG. 6) inbosses 91 and 93 of the sections 36 and 38, respectively, to mount thelatch lever 78 rotatably in the housing. Recessed bearing portions 87and 89 bear against the ends of the bosses 91 4and 93, respectively, andprovide clearance for the bosses 91 and 93.

A torsion spring 92 engaging hook-like projection 94 of the lever 78 andthe adjacent wall of the casing urges the lever 78 counterclockwise, asviewed in FIG. 2, away from the latching position thereof. The shaft 74has respectively into counterbore 100 (FIG. 6) in boss 103 and bore 102(FIG. 4) in boss 105 of the sections 38 and 36, respectively, to mountt-he shaft 74 (FIG. 2) rotatably in the housing. The arm 29 has arecessed, bearing portion 107 to provide clearance for the boss 105. Thelock arm y29 has an offset portion 104 projecting through slot 106 inarcuate wa-ll portion 108 of the section 36 and also has a knob orhandle portion 109 forming, with a portion 109, a clearance slot 111.The wall portion 108 is concentric with the bore 102 and has anenlarged, riblike, reinforcing stop 110 at the upper lefthand end of theslot 106 as viewed in FIG. 4. The arm 29 has a locking arm portion 120(FIG. 2) and is urged by compression spring 122 toward a slightlyovercenter locking position, as shown in FIG. 2, engaging lever 78 andholding the lever 78, and thereby the latching bar 28, in their latchingpositions. T-he spring 122 nests at one end thereof under retaining lug123 (FIGS. 2 and ll) of the arm 29 and nests at its other end betweenthe wall `108 (FIG. 4) and ribs 125 and 127 (FIGS. 2, 4, and 6). Thus,the spring is well nested at both ends and bears at its ends againstboss 133 and the edge of thearm 29. The spring is exible so that itscompression urges it laterally against the arcuate wall 108 asillustrated best in FIG. 4, the wall 108 acting as a guide for thespring to limit buckling thereof. The spring 122 being positionedagainst the wall 8 is out of the path of movement of the slide arm 68.

A thin shaft 129 (FIG. 2) of the known, key-operated lock 31 (FIG. 3)mounted in the door section 22 extends into either selected end of akeying or splining hole 134 in the shaft 74, projections 135 beingengaged when shaft 129 of the lock is turned counterclockwise, as viewedin FIG. 2, to turn the shaft 7-4. When the shaft 74 is turnedcounterclockwise by pushing the handle portion 109, the spaces betweenthe projections 135 provide clearance or lost motion relative to thethin shaft 129 so that the arm 29 is moved without turning the shaft ofthelock. The sections 36 and 38 have shallow recesses 136 (FIG. 5) and138 (FIG. 7) in the outer faces thereof to provide clearance for plate140 (FIG. 3) of the lock 31 and the recess 136 or 138 which is not beingused in the position of the latch illustrated, is filled by a thin nameplate 142 having a pressure sensitive yadhesive on the inner facethereof and fitting into the recess 136 or 138. A square sha-ft 148carrying outer handle 34 and inner handle 149 is mounted rotatably onthe door section 22 and fits into complementary, keying or splining hole152 in the shaft 82 from either selected end of the shaft 82.

To lock the latch from the outside of the door 24, the user turns thehandle 314 (FIG. 3) to turn the latch lever 78 clockwise, as viewed inFIG. 2, against the action of the spring 92, from the releasing positionthereof to the latching position thereof which .is shown in FIG. 2. Thismoves the latching :bar from its releasing position to the right to theshown, latching position thereof, and the lock arm 29 is urged by thespring 122 to its overcenter locking position shown in FIG. 2 in lockingengagement with the lever 78.

To release the latch 20 from the outside, the user inserts a key intothe lock 31 (FIG. 3) and turns the key to turn shaft 74 (FIG. 2)counterclockwise, as viewed in FIG. 2, against the light action of thespring 122. The spring 92 then t-urns latch lever 78 counterclockwise tothe broken-line, releasing position thereof, and the lever 78 moves,through the slide arm 68, the latching bar 28 to the left to itsreleasing position and holds the bar 28 in its releasing position. Asthe arm '78 so moves, the forked slide arm slides on the shaft 74 4andthe pin 66 moves in slot 70 in the bar 28 to prevent binding. Bymounting the slide arm slidably on the shaft 74 and connecting the slidearm pivotally to the latch lever 78 intermediate the end of the slidearm, the slide arm projects lbeyond the latch lever in the latchnigdirection when the A latch lever is in its latching position andprojects beyond the latch lever in the releasing direction when thelatch lever is in its releasing position. Thus, the slide arm multipliesthe length of the throw of the latch lever.

To release the latch 20 from the inside of the coor 24, the user merelyswings the lock arm 29 counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 2. The spring9-2 then swungs the latch lever 78 to its releasing position and thelatch lever swings the slide arm 68 clockwise about the shaft 74 to pullthe latching bar 28 to the left .to its releasing position.

To latch the door `from the inside, the user merely -grasps the knob 32and pushes the latching bar to the right, as viewed in FIG. 2, and, whenthe lever 78 reaches its latching position, the lock arm 29 is swung byspring 122 to its locking position. Latching can also be accomplished byturning the inner handle 149 to turn the shaft 148.

The lever 78 swings about 90 between the bosses 63 (FIG. 4) which act asstops, and, at the extreme positions of the lever 78, the end of theslide arm 68 projects through clearance notches 184 (FIGS. 4 and 5)slightly out of the section 36 as the slide arm imparts la long throw tothe latching bar 28 of a length nearly as great -as the width of thesection 36. This construction permits the throw to be of the lengthnecessary for good latching and ample clearance when desired, and alsopermits the housing to be quite narrow, which is desirable for mountingthe latch on the limited available space of the portion of the door onwhich the latch can =be securely mounted. By the provision of the slidearm, the throw of the actuating mechanism is made long while theactuating mechanism is quite compact and the housing is permitted to becorrespondingly small.

It is to be understood that the abovedescribed arrangements are simplyillustrative of the application of the principles of the invention.Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled inthe art which will embody the principles of the invention and fallwithin the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. In a garage door latch,

a latching bar,

a housing of a predetermined width having aligned guide openingsmounting the bar slidably,

and a manually operable member in the housing and drivingly engaging thebar for moving the bar along the guide openings,

the housing being provided with clearance openings adjacent the guideopenings to permit the member to extend therethrough partly out of thehousing to permit a throw of the latching bar that is long compared withsaid width, the manually operable member being pivotally connected atthe end portion thereof,

said end portion of the manually operable member being adapted to extendthrough the clearance openings in the housing when in extreme positionsof movement thereof relative to the housing.

2. In a garage door latch,

a Ilatching bar having rst coupling means,

means guiding the latching bar between a latching position and areleasing position,

means urging the bar toward its releasing position,

a latch lever mounted pivotally on a rst fixed axis and having secondcoupling means spaced from the fixed axis thereof,

a throw-multiplying slide arm having third coupling means drivinglyengaged with the second coupling means of the latch lever,

the slide arm also having fourth coupling means drivingly engaged withthe first coupling means of the latching bar and spaced along the slidearm from the third coupling means and the slide arm also being providedwith a slotted portion,

and a. lOk. arm having a shaft mounted pivotally on a second fixed axisparallel to the first fixed axis and ond position adjacent the oppositeedge of the extending through the slotted portion of the slide housing,

arm, v an arm pivotally secured at a first point therealong to the lockarm also having an arm urged into engage- Said one end of the member andsecured pivotally ment with the latch lever to hold the latch lever in 5at a second point therealong spaced from the first its latching positionand movable manually away point to thelatching bar, from the latchlever, and guide means carried by the housing for engaging 3. In agarage door latch, a portion of the arm at the side of said first pointa latching bar having a transverse slot therein, opposite to the side atwhich said second point is means guiding the latching bar betweenalatching posilocated relative to said first point and operable to tionand a releasing position, swing the arm to a position extending in onedirecmeans urging the latching bar toward its releasing tion away fromthe member as the member is moved position, to the first positionthereof and to swing the arm to a latch lever mounted pivotally on afirst fixed axis and a position extending away from the member in thehaving a pin offset from the fixed axis thereof, direction opposite tosaid one direction as the member is moved to the second positionthereof, whereby the throw of the member is increased.

7. In a garage door latch adapted to be installed on the inner face of agarage door having a lock shaft extending inwardly from the inner faceand a shaft of a handle extending inwardly from the inner face andparallel to the lock shaft,

a slide arm having a hole receiving the pin of the latch lever, a pinextending into the slot in the latching bar and a forked portion,

and a lock arm having a shaft mounted pivotally on a second fixed axisparallel to the first fixed axis and extending through the forkedportion of the slide arm, the lock arm also having an arm urged intoengagement with the latch lever to hold the latch lever in its a housingadapted to be secured to the inner face of the garage door and having apair of openings spaced latching position and being movable manuallyaway to receive the lock shaft and the shaft of the handle, from thelatch lever. the housing also having a pair of aligned guide openings 4.In a garage door latch, in opposite sides thereof,

a pair of housing sections having an arcuate upper edge a latching barmounted slidably in first portions of the portion, a slot in the arcuateupper edge portion, an guide openings, upper pair of aligned bores, alower pair of aligned latch lever means mounted pivotally in the housingand bores and a pair of aligned guideways in the side edge having asocket receiving the shaft of the handle in portions thereof, splinedrelationship and including coupling lever a latching bar extendingthrough the guideways and means drivingly interconnecting the latchlever and slidable therealong and having a s'lot extending transthelatching bar, versely thereof, guide means carried by the housing andengaging the a lock arm having a handle portion extending throughcoupling lever means for swinging the coupling lever the slot in theupper edge portion, a locking arm means between extreme positionsextending in genportion and a shaft portion having reduced endsjourerally opposite directions relative to the housing, naled in theupper pair of aligned bores and also and a lock arm mounted pivotally inthe housing and having keying sockets in the ends thereof, 40 having asocket receiving the lock shaft and operable a slide arm having a forkedend portion slidable on the when in one position to lock the latch leverin a shaft portion ofthe lock arm, a pin at the other end latchingposition and when in a second position to portion extending into theslot in the latching bar release the latch lever for movement to anunlatch and a bore therein extending parallel to the pin, ing position,

a latch lever having an arm provided with a pin exthe coupling meansincluding portions adapted to extending into the bore in the slide armand also being tend through second portions of the guide openingsprovided with a shaft portion having reduced end and extend beyond theopposite sides of the housing portions fitting rotatably into the lowerpair of aligned having the guide openings therein. bores in the housingand having keying sockets in 8. The garage door latch of claim 7including knob the ends thereof, means mounted on a portion of thelatching bar at one side of the housing for pushing the latching bar toits latching position,

and spring means urging the latching bar toward its unlatching position.

spring means urging the latch lever toward a releasing position in-which the latching bar is in a releasing position and permittingmovement of the latch lever to a latching position in which the latchingbar is in a latching position, and means urging the lock arm toward alocking posi- References Cited by the Examiner tion in which the lockingarm portion engages and UNITED STATES PATENTS holds the latch lever inthe latching position thereof. 0 5. The garage door latch of claim 4wherein the hous- 2574415 11/1951 Robinson 70- 10 ing is provided withopenings permitting the slide arm to 2628117 2/1953 Robmson 70-100 Xextend therethroughl Backhouse 6. In a garage doordatch, 3,163,03312/1964 Boyles 70-141 X a housing, FOREIGN PATENTS a latching barmounted movably by the housing, 463,885 6/1951 hay a latch membermounted pivotally in the housing for movement of one end of the memberbetween a first BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner. POSIUOIl adlallt 0116edge 0f the housing and a sec-

2. IN A GARAGE DOOR LATCH, A LATCHING BAR HAVING FIRST COUPLING MEANS,MEANS GUIDING THE LATCHING BAR BETWEEN A LATCHING POSITION AND ARELEASING POSITION, MEANS URGING THE BAR TOWARD ITS RELEASING POSITION,A LATCH LEVER MOUNTED PIVOTALLY ON A FIRST FIXED AXIS AND HAVING SECONDCOUPLING MEANS SPACED FROM THE FIXED AXIS THEREOF, A THROW-MULTIPLYINGSLIDE ARM HAVING THIRD COUPLING MEANS DRIVINGLY ENGAGED WITH THE SECONDCOUPLING MEANS OF THE LATCH LEVER, THE SLIDE ARM ALSO HAVING FOURTHCOUPLING MEANS DRIVINGLY ENGAGED WITH THE FIRST COUPLING MEANS OF THELATCHING BAR AND SPACED ALONG THE SLIDE ARM FROM THE THIRD COUPLINGMEANS AND THE SLIDE ARM ALSO BEING PROVIDED WITH A SLOTTED PORTION, ANDA LOCK ARM HAVING A SHAFT MOUNTED PIVOTALLY ON A SECOND FIXED AXISPARALLEL TO THE FIRST FIXED AXIS AND EXTENDING THROUGH THE SLOTTEDPORTION OF THE SLIDE ARM, THE LOCK ARM ALSO HAVING AN ARM URGED INTOENGAGEMENT WITH THE LATCH LEVER TO HOLD THE LATCH LEVER IN ITS LATCHINGPOSITION AND MOVABLE MANUALLY AWAY FROM THE LATCH LEVER.